Eating with your enemies.

U nodigt mij aan tafel voor het oog van de vijand, u zalft mijn hoofd met olie, mijn beker vloeit over.

The author, David says, "You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies.You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings." (Psalm 23:5 NLT)

For years I read that to mean my enemies watched me get blessed by God. They stood at a distance or watched from hell, while I had a feast. 

I think I was very wrong all these years.

I think David means the enemy is at the table with me. 

Think about it. Jesus ate with his enemies all the time. Both the obvious enemies like the Pharisees and may the less obvious like Judas or even Peter (Peter at least spoke the words of Christ's enemy Satan when he tries to discourage the talk of dying and Jesus says get behind me Satan. Or less obviously, when Peter denies Jesus).

I think this shows us that we will become like Jesus. We will be able to graciously eat with those who seek our demise. We, with God's help, will welcome our enemies to the table. Maybe even it is the idea that God makes our enemies to share their table with us. 

Either way, I do not believe any longer that it is a description of a spoilt children sticking his tongue out at the enemy while tucking into a great feast laid on by God for his favourite child. 

Rather I must see this passage as describing Jesus. And if I am going to be included in this promise I must walk the way that Jesus walks.

So look forward to how God will bring your enemies to the table with you. 

I can think of no greater way for this to happen than for my enemies to become my brothers and to sit at the table with me. Could it be that they come to the table as an enemy and leave a brother?

So can we rejoice and look forward to God both feeding us and bringing peace to us.

No Danger for the Stranger

Exodus 22:21-28 NASB

"You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall not afflict any widow or orphan. If you afflict him at all, and if he does cry out to Me, I will surely hear his cry; and My anger will be kindled, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.   "If you lend money to My people, to the poor among you, you are not to act as a creditor to him; you shall not charge him interest. If you ever take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge, you are to return it to him before the sun sets, for that is his only covering; it is his cloak for his body. What else shall he sleep in? And it shall come about that when he cries out to Me, I will hear him, for I am gracious.   "You shall not curse God, nor curse a ruler of your people.

Exodus 23:3, 6, 9 NASB

nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his dispute.   "You shall not pervert the justice due to your needy brother in his dispute. "You shall not oppress a stranger, since you yourselves know the feelings of a stranger, for you also were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Exodus 23:10-11 NASB

"You shall sow your land for six years and gather in its yield, but on the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so that the needy of your people may eat; and whatever they leave the beast of the field may eat. You are to do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.

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Banner says, "PKK is not a terrorist organisation"

Immigration is a hot issue. Some people prize their national identity pretty highly. There's no shame in seeing the benefits of your nationality; in the Bible it is recorded that the apostle Paul used his Roman citizenship to protect himself at least a couple of times. But God is concerned for the vulnerable, and along with orphans and widows, he instructed his people not to wrong or oppress the stranger.

A few Bible translators translate the word 'stranger' as 'foreigner',
as in Exodus 22:21 NCV (New Century Version):

“Do not cheat or hurt a foreigner, because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt."

Here in verse 21 it is clear that God was talking about people not considered local. Interestingly, God's people the Israelites had been living in Egypt for nearly 450 years. You'd have thought that would make your family local enough. It doesn't. The people in power get to decide who is local and who is a stranger in God's own land. Today there are people groups all over the world who have spent as much as a millenia living, working, building and contributing in one location and are still not considered local.

God does not want his people to perpetuate that mindset. In fact, it seems God is more concerned about fair treatment of the foreigner that the abolition of slavery.

What is your opinion of the immigrant? Jesus was an immigrant of sorts here on earth. And if you make it to heaven you'll be one in God's kingdom.

Makes the golden rule hit home.

“He’s out of his mind,”

Mark 3:21-22 NLT

When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. “He’s out of his mind,” they said. But the teachers of religious law who had arrived from Jerusalem said, “He’s possessed by Satan, the prince of demons. That’s where he gets the power to cast out demons.”
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“I tell you the truth, all sin and blasphemy can be forgiven,  but anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. This is a sin with eternal consequences.”Mark 3:28-29

Does it scare you when you read about the unforgiveable sin?

It should! It's not murder, genocide, racism, paedophilia or rape that are unforgiveable. They'll be forgiven.

The unforgiveable sin is misrepresentation of the work of God. In the Gospel according to Mark, Jesus' enemies claimed God's Son, Jesus, was actually controlled by Satan.

The Pharisees claimed to represent God. They claimed they knew what God was doing. And with that authority they declared that Jesus was not from God but was actually from Satan. Persisting along these lines would further blind them to the truth and harden their hearts.
Jesus was from God. The Holy Spirit of God was leading Jesus and empowering him. The best news God ever proclaimed was that Jesus, the Son of God, was the Saviour of the World who came from the Father to forgive sinners and welcome them into God’s kingdom.

The Pharisees, claiming to be speaking from a position of God’s authority, were saying God's Saviour Jesus was in fact from Satan.

Jesus says that's unforgiveable!

Interestingly, Jesus' family was also misrepresenting Jesus. They were saying he was crazy. Now we know  Jesus' mother was a believer, and we know at least one of Jesus' brothers is not only a believer but becomes the leader of the church in Jerusalem.
Jesus wasn't crazy. Just because he was healing people, missing meals and working hard proclaiming the Kingdom of God, was no reason to say he was "out of his mind".  Still Jesus isn't really rebuking his family with the same severity that he has the Pharisees.
Jesus is saying his family is God's family! And that included a lot of people.
Do you see why what the Pharisees were saying was so much worse? Jesus was welcoming people into God's family and He alone was the only way anyone would ever get in. Without Jesus no one would ever be saved. The Pharisees were, in effect, going to damn every one in the whole world to God's wrath and judgment by claiming the only rescue God sent was from Satan.

Jesus is not from Satan! 

He is not out of his mind either.

Jesus is God's much anticipated Messiah King who comes to welcome sinners into God's kingdom. Jesus calls the sinner to repent of his sin and to believe in Jesus and his way of life through the cross.
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Mark 3:20-35 NLT

One time Jesus entered a house, and the crowds began to gather again. Soon he and his disciples couldn’t even find time to eat. When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. “He’s out of his mind,” they said. But the teachers of religious law who had arrived from Jerusalem said, “He’s possessed by Satan, the prince of demons. That’s where he gets the power to cast out demons.” Jesus called them over and responded with an illustration. “How can Satan cast out Satan?” he asked. “A kingdom divided by civil war will collapse.  Similarly, a family splintered by feuding will fall apart.  And if Satan is divided and fights against himself, how can he stand? He would never survive.  Let me illustrate this further. Who is powerful enough to enter the house of a strong man like Satan and plunder his goods? Only someone even stronger—someone who could tie him up and then plunder his house. “I tell you the truth, all sin and blasphemy can be forgiven,  but anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. This is a sin with eternal consequences.”  He told them this because they were saying, “He’s possessed by an evil spirit.” Then Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him. They stood outside and sent word for him to come out and talk with them. There was a crowd sitting around Jesus, and someone said, “Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you.” Jesus replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?”  Then he looked at those around him and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers.  Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”